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Getting Church Right

3:17pm Saturday, 3rd July 2010

Archie Poulos says Australians can learn from the English.
Yes, really.

Measuring how well we “do church” is always difficult. We are constantly bombarded by statistics and methods for comparing ourselves to other churches. But we don’t usually ask the question “what are we actually about in church?”
Steve Timmis and Tim Chester, who have co-written the books The Gospel Centred Church and Total Church are two people who have thought seriously about these questions. Both their books take us back to these question of what church is about, and are a breath of fresh air in how we view church. They see the purpose of the church having three priorities: the priority of mission, the priority of people and the priority of community.
Their great challenge to me is to take seriously the place of church in each of these areas. It seems to me that in our Australian churches we often lose sight of one or more of these priorities. In our desire for mission it is so easy to set up events and structures and lose sight of people. At other times we seek to create community and forget that proclaiming the gospel together is the privilege of being God’s people.
These two men are not just theorists (although they develop their ideas from rigorous theology). They have created ministries that have put their ideas into practice. Steve Timmis who began The Crowded House, now heads up Acts 29 in Europe. Tim Chester is part of The Crowded House and Director of the Northern Training Institute. He was previously Research and Policy Director for Tearfund UK.
The strongest challenge to me from Timmis and Chester’s writings is the challenge to individualism. So often we make decisions about anything and everything based on my goals, or the goals of my family, when we need also to ask the affect of my decisions on my church family and the effect on the honour of God. Whether to move house should involve deep thought and prayer on the effect this will have on my church relationships!
They also challenge the central place we put on the formal meeting, as if it is the measure by which everything is measured.
Timmis and Chester give many heart- warming and clear examples of how these three priorities might work themselves out in everyday life. While I think there is more to be said, you can see from this excerpt that they try to apply their understanding of church to the everyday situation in which people find themselves.
Imagine Nathan and Natalie have a baby.
Babies take time. Nathan and Natalie now have less time. Nathan and Natalie decide they may have to “drop” church. But in the Bible’s view it’s not a problem for just Nathan and Natalie—it’s a problem for the whole church. As a congregation we must take some responsibility. Perhaps a few people help Natalie bathe their baby on different days so Nathan and Natalie can have some time together; perhaps someone else drives Nathan to work as he’s so tired. Nathan and Natalie might be less involved in the church meetings, but they’re still just as involved in the life of the community.
For me there are many questions still to answer about how these three priorities relate to each other, and how Timmis and Chester
view church from a Biblical theological perspective.
What makes church church, and so special is that it is gathered around our Saviour. It includes all believers from all times and that is what we will enjoy when we see Jesus face to face. In the here and now God gives us all we need by His Word, Spirit and each other to make it safely to heaven and glorify Him on the journey. What church does is not the question. What church is is the astonishing reality: that we, in all our human frailty are gathered around Christ, who feeds, cares for and protects his precious bride.
Now because we are gathered around Christ, being nourished and transformed by Him, we will seek to glorify his name (mission priority), and because he saves people to be his brothers and God’s sons, and not just tools to do his work we will care for people (people priority). Because our gathering and those who join together is not accidental, our commitment to each other really matters (community priority).
I am very excited that Steve Timmis is coming to Australia in August for a Pastors’ conference and the Engage conference for workers at Katoomba Christian Convention. I, along with many others, will be there.